- Hello, my dear friends!
- For vacation, we went to see our parents in Russia. As usual, we have helped them to fix some things (replacing wooden floors in the sauna, level leaned floors in the veranda and several small things). We also went to find mushrooms in the forest, swam in a small river, and had a lot of fun with many relatives that we have there (25 counting us and another brother that wasn’t there this time).
- Girls (Anastasia and Anna) went to the “Prints on the Sand” camp for five days and had a blast! It was hard to pull them out of there. A crowd went to see us off to the bus stop. Here we are singing an old song on the way: https://youtu.be/zaA1C8P1d5E
- I have also met with the church there and many old friends from Biysk and Barnaul and even Tomsk and Moscow and Irkutsk churches! It is very encouraging to see how Church in Russia continues to grow and is very active!
- I continue Bible studies in the village. We have one last lesson with three ladies and they already want to be baptized. And then I have another family for a potential Bible study course.
- Also, God blessed me with a new family of three (husband Alexei, his wife Anzhella, and Anzhela’s mother Nelly). Our brother (Dr. Dima Kireev) invited them to the IMC (International Medical Center where Zhenya works and all workers are Christians from different churches). Anzhella is now a student doctor at IMC. The family is very open to God and faith and has a long Christian history, but there is a lot of misunderstanding and a lack of Bible knowledge. We have already met three times and it seems to be going well.
- I also hope to continue Bible studies with young man Danil.
- Our home bible study group has a break for vacation, but Peter’s group is actively meeting and works very well. Members of the group are very open, you can see how they spend more time with God’s word and reflect a lot about God, we see life changes, etc. God is using it well to heal and mature them.
- Our Light House daughter – Aselya had her third baby boy – Aidos. They live in a 130 square feet apartment with three children. And all lighthouse family helps them as to their relatives.
- Zhenya and Elna continue leading family ministry – I feel like I have successfully delegated it and they have several new couples involved already.
- My plans for this fall are to
- Continue Bible studies
- Preaching about every third week
- Leading two home bible study groups and, if God allows, starting another one
- Continue disciplining three brothers
- Developing pastoral care through following up with all the church members (visiting, calling, consulting, helping)
- Attend the 25th anniversary of Tomsk Church in September
- Studying through Homiletics with TCMI (face to face part will happen on October 7-11 in Chimkent)
- Develop some new materials and edit old ones, also as a team, we plan to do retreats for different groups of the church on different topics.
- My family is doing well. Please pray for Anastasia as she needs to pass some more tests to finish her first year in Moscow. Please pray for Anna as she is flying tomorrow with 16 other people to Armenia and Georgia for a mission trip. They will be evangelizing in the streets and working with children. Please pray for Zhenya as she quits working at IMC and starts being a teacher for 3ed grade in TienShan school. And please pray for Julie and Elijah to understand and speak enough English to start their studies on August 20th in a new school. Also, Zhenya will be driving to school for about an hour and an hour back!
- Thank you very much for your prayers and support and your love for us!
- Blessings from Kazakhstan,
- Sasha and Co.
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